Veteran of the Week - Mike Holley

MONTGOMERY, TX -- This week's Veteran is Mike Holley, who served in the U.S. Army from 1993–2006. Holley was commissioned as an officer in the Military Police Corps after receiving an Army ROTC scholarship. He trained at Fort McClellan in Anniston, Alabama, in the Officer Basic Course, in addition to other courses. Mike was lucky enough to be assigned to Fort Hood, Texas, with the 545th MP Company, which supported the 1st Cavalry Division. During his career, Mike felt a calling to the law and applied to, and was accepted into, a specialty career path as a Judge Advocate, the Army's lawyers. Holley attended law school at Texas Tech. The Army assigned Mike to the XVIII Airborne Corps, where he worked in Operational Law and as an Army prosecutor. From there, Mike, his wife, and four children were assigned to Korea. There, Mike served in Trial Defense Services defending Soldiers in Korea, Thailand, and Japan. Mike then attended the Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Virginia. Mike obtained his Master of Laws and was initially assigned to serve as a Professor of Criminal Law in Charlottesville. Before he could begin that assignment, the Army selected him to serve as the Chief Prosecutor for the Abu Ghraib Detainee Abuse courts-martial in Baghdad, Iraq. After he completed this with Multi-National Corps-Iraq, Mike returned to teach at the JAG School. In 2006, Mike left the Army to work with Mark Lanier, a well-regarded Houston-based civil attorney. In 2012, left the Lanier Law Firm and joined the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office as a misdemeanor prosecutor. In 2016, District Attorney Brett Ligon promoted Mike to the critical role of First Assistant District Attorney.

Following Mr. Ligon's resignation in September, Governor Abbott appointed Mike to be District Attorney. Mike then filed as a candidate and was unopposed by either party. Mr. Holley has continued the work of his predecessor without any personnel turnover or change in the office's emphasis. He is committed to treating his people well and serving the community with skill and honor. He is public-safety-minded and victim-focused, and he believes leadership is critical to a well-functioning office. Good luck, Mike, and Congratulations on being Veteran of the Week!